


Spider Silk

by qwanderer



Series: Braids!Verse [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, I have plans, I still want to write more of this series, but not sure how I'm actually going to make them work, most of the changes are still based in the ensuing heteronormativity, this only varies slightly from the movie but in a shippy way, you know besides the fact that Toni is female
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-24 21:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14364378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwanderer/pseuds/qwanderer
Summary: "We are not soldiers!"She'd turned so quickly that the knot of her hair pulled a little on her scalp. She winced a little and lifted her hands to begin the painstaking process of getting it back in order - a gentle pull here, an exploration there, trying to get it all running one way again."I'm not marching to Fury's fife," she continued, not looking at him but focusing on her task.





	Spider Silk

Toni's hair was just getting to the length where she could really braid it again, so of course she put in her french braids whenever she knew she was going to be in the suit. It saved her from helmet hair, it didn't get caught in stuff, and it was the way she liked it when she was working on stuff, like this underwater power cable. 

Pepper was up on comms while they did the tower lighting thing, which went great, of course. Toni was just gearing down and getting comfortable when the damned phone call came in. "Grow a spine, Jarvis," she said. "I've got a pajama party to attend." 

But of course, that's not quite how it worked out. 

* * *

So Toni flew the suit to Germany, took Reindeer Games into custody, and got into the back of the SHIELD jet, taking off her helmet to get a better look at this Captain America guy. She could kinda see what everyone was on about; he was decent looking. Until he got all frowny. 

She teased him a little, trying to get him to lighten up, but he just eyed her, red and gold armor, French braids, and looked like he was trying really hard not to give as good as he got. She wondered how much it would shake him up to see her in public mode, and considered taking down her hair, and then was really glad she hadn't when there was a thud on the jet's roof. She put her helmet back on and flew. 

She got in a good fight with the newest guy, huge hammer and could apparently summon lightning, before Captain Fun Ruiner came to break it up. 

* * *

On the Helicarrier, she got out of the suit, took down her hair and fixed up her clothing before joining the others. This was her other armor, and she marched into the room intent on letting everyone in it know that she didn't bend to anybody. 

Dr. Banner was there talking about the Tesseract, which was pretty exciting. After she was done marking her territory, she came up to him to fangirl over him and shake his hand. 

Bruce was momentarily paralyzed by the gorgeous dark-haired woman spouting science at him and clearly not afraid of the Hulk. It would have been a bittersweet reminder of things lost, except Toni Stark was also loud, arrogant and frenetic, the very opposite of Betty. He smiled hesitantly. 

Toni took that as approval and dragged Bruce off to the lab, showing off her tech and taking jabs at Bruce, both literal and figurative. It was a lot of fun, so of course Rogers had to show up again. 

Of course Captain America has no sense of humor, Toni thought as he yelled at her. She tried to ignore him, returning to her game with Banner. "You're tiptoeing, Big Man. You need to strut." Toni took a great deal of pride in what that line did to Bruce's eyebrows, coming from the tiny brunette who obviously knew what to do with the hips she had. 

"And you need to focus on the problem, Miss Stark." 

Toni was liking the Captain less and less. She sighed. 

* * *

Of course Jarvis got into the SHIELD files in pretty short order, and Cap found the physical equipment to back up the files in the same amount of time, she had to give him credit for that. But now the testosterone levels in this room were getting ridiculous, regardless of the levels of deadly Natashas attempting to balance it out. 

It was when the others started to give Bruce a hard time that Toni got mad. The last thing he needed was a room full of people telling him to settle down. "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" she said defiantly. 

"You know damn well why," the captain chimed in inevitably. "Back off!" 

Toni narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." 

"Yeah, you're real brave when you're hiding behind that armor," he said, voice grating with anger that he was making far too much effort to suppress. 

Toni wondered what he'd be doing if she were a man, his size, and it made her even angrier. 

"Take that off," he spat, "what are you?" 

"Genius, billionaire, playgirl, philanthropist," she shot back. 

"So what's that? Mostly luck, some smoke and mirrors. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not gonna get down in the dirt with the rest of us, lay down on a wire so someone else can crawl over." 

"I think I would just cut the wire." 

"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." 

Toni went absolutely still, seething at those words. "I have had just about enough of people telling me what I can and can't be. But if being a hero means being like you? Count me out." She clenched her jaw. "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." 

She was so disappointed. The way her father had talked about this man... and here he was, just like everyone else, trying to get her to step off, back down when all she ever did was insist on being herself. 

He looked like he wanted to punch her right there, and she almost wished he would. At the least, it would prove her point. He wasn't any better than anyone else, when push came to shove. 

But, "Put on the suit," he said. 

The clamor from the others cut in again, but Stark and Rogers just stared each other down. 

But they never got a chance to settle things before everything went to hell. 

* * *

Toni didn't have time to do her braids. She put her hair up in a quick and dirty knot before hastily assembling the suit. She hated that. She hoped it didn't get caught in anything this time. 

This was going to be uncomfortable, but it wasn't like she had a choice. 

* * *

Steve knew, when it came down to it, how to shut up and do what needed doing. He fought his way through to where he was needed, and Toni was there too, doing what only she could do, putting the engines of this fantastical ship back together, from the inside - putting her life in his hands. Laying down on the wire and trusting him to pick her back up again. 

He didn't know why he had seen what he'd seen in the brief SHIELD had given him. Peggy had been strong and unyielding and unafraid of offending, but she hadn't been like what he'd seen of Toni from the files - flaunting her body, getting drunk and yelling crude things at huge crowds of people. Ladies just didn't act like that where he was from. 

Maybe that was out of date. Maybe it was just his eyes that needed adjusting. The future was never going to stop surprising him, apparently. 

* * *

Toni's hair was a fucking knotted mess. 

It was sweaty and sticky and she'd lost more than a few strands to the joints of the suit; she hadn't even had time to investigate the damage before Fury summoned them to listen to his little speech about cooperation and heroes and that crap. 

And Coulson had bitten the dust, buying them all whatever time he could, and they'd still let Loki get away. 

The last thing Toni needed right now was Captain America in her face, telling her exactly how bad they'd screwed up. 

But all Toni could think was that if she wasn't smart, then what good was she? The only part of her that was really worth anything was her brain. And that was the only answer she would have for Steve, if he pushed to know why she did what she did. Why she played hero, and then did the smart thing instead of the heroic thing. 

So when he asked about Coulson, it took Toni by surprise, and she was honest, and said what she thought, that self-sacrifice was idiotic so much of the time. 

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" 

Everything about that question was wrong. Toni didn't give or follow orders. People should think things through themselves, that was the point! "We are not soldiers!" 

She'd turned so quickly that the knot of her hair pulled a little on her scalp. She winced a little and lifted her hands to begin the painstaking process of getting it back in order - a gentle pull here, an exploration there, trying to get it all running one way again. 

"I'm not marching to Fury's fife," she continued, not looking at him but focusing on her task. 

"Neither am I," he said, and that was encouraging, she supposed. He might not like her, but at least he wasn't a complete tool. 

He started summing up their situation, trying to figure out where Loki might be. Toni thought about what she knew, the resources Loki had and how he'd gotten them. He'd obviously come to the Helicarrier with them on purpose, gotten their attention and made himself their prisoner, so he could - what? Mock them? Take a jab at Bruce? ...Bring agent Barton right back to their doorstep? 

"He made it personal," she said. 

Steve argued, of course, but Toni became more and more certain she was right with every moment. "He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." She barely registered Steve's comments of agreement. She was on a roll, she had something. "He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered...." she dropped the tangle of her hair as she realized what that brought to mind. "Son of a bitch." 

* * *

She took the time to order her hair properly, expertly pulling apart every snarl until she could comb her fingers through without trouble, parting it, choosing strands and twisting and weaving them together until all her hair was tucked in tight to her head. This was her battle gear; this was her ritual. She made a few crucial repairs to the suit, then put it on, leaving the carrier more or less when the others did. She went to fight for her world. 

* * *

The suit was even worse off than she'd feared, and she wasn't going to be doing much to the portal device as things stood. She needed another suit. Toni touched down on the landing pad, seeing Loki standing there on her damn balcony, smiling tauntingly. 

But her suit was in there, and without it, what was she? Only smart, too smart to go up against Loki alone. 

Fuck smart. This was her house, and she was going to go in and get her suit. 

She hit the gear down, watching Loki the whole time, trying to read him and come up with some kind of strategy. But the only thing that came to her was that she'd already bypassed brains and was now angling on the merits of pure guts, and she might as well continue as she'd begun. 

She was naked of metal, as she came inside, but she still had on her battle gear, still watched Loki with eyes that promised challenge, eyes of a stalking cat. 

He smiled back, just the same way. "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." 

She raised her eyebrows. "If that's what you'd call the part of you that I appeal to," she said, cocking a hip, "then that's fine with me. But no. I thought I'd threaten you." 

"You should have left your armor on for that." 

She shrugged, sneaking her tracking bracelets on as she checked her makeup in the mirror over the bar. "You might be right." She took several slow strides towards him. "So. Seduction it is?" 

Loki smirked. "Tempting, but no." 

Just as well. She wasn't dressed right for reeling in a man. That usually meant slinky fabric, glossy hair, the works. She was dressed for battle, braids and all. 

Her strides got stiffer, and her gaze turned to a true glare. "Well, pick your poison, buster, 'cause it's gonna be one way or the other. You're going down, and it can be hard or it can be soft. There's no throne. You'll lose. We'll win. Some ways will mean more of a fight than others but the Avengers are _not giving up._ " 

Loki actually looked surprised, at that. He blinked a few times before murmuring, "By the Norns, you should have been a Valkyrie." 

"And what exactly is that meant to mean?" Toni asked. 

"It means your threats are a more compelling seduction than your wiles." He took a step towards her, raising his staff. "Unfortunately, I have a war to wage. And a surer way of compelling _your_ cooperation, Ms. Stark." 

He touched the staff to the arc reactor. 

It went "clink." Nothing much else seemed to happen. 

He frowned. "This usually works." 

"Oh, poo." Toni smirked. "And just when things were getting interesting. Another man who can't follow through on his brags." 

She probably shouldn't have said that, if the unearthly strong grip on her throat was any indication. 

* * *

The Avengers won, of course. 

They stood in a circle over Loki as he dragged himself out of the hole in Toni's floor that Hulk had made just for him. His eyes... his green, green eyes... went right for hers. 

"I don't suppose that seduction is still an option?" he asked. 

Toni grinned. 


End file.
